Good Conscience, Treatise · Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII.
The impetuous iniuſtice, and malice of the adverſaries of a good Conſcience.
AS we hauehave ſeen the entertainment a good Conſcience meets withall in the world, ſo wee may here further ſee the inordinate violences that the enemies and haters of good Conſcience are carried with. Therefore out of this inſolent Iniunction of Ananias, wee may in the ſecond place obſerue:
Doct. 2 The heady violence, and impetuous iniuſtice of the adverſaries of good Conſcience. Smite him on the mouth. A man would not imagine that hatred, and malice againſt goodnes, ſhould ſo tranſport a man, as to make him run into ſo much, ſo open, ſo groſſe Iniuſtice. Doe but examine the fact, and you ſhall ſee a ſtrange deale of iniuſtice therein.
1. Who is he that bids ſmite? The high Prieſt. He had a better Canon to liue by. Mal. 2. 6. He walked with me in peace and equitie. So Leui walked, and ſo ſhould Gods Prieſts walke alſo. And that Canon of Paul for the Miniſtry of the Goſpell, held no leſſe good for the Miniſtry of the Law, That he ſhould not be ſoone angry, no ſtriker. Tit. 1. 7. How haps it then that the high Prieſt is thus light fingred. Smite him on the mouth? Oh! ſhame that ſuch a word ſhould come out of a Prieſts, eſpecially the high Prieſts mouth.
2. Who muſt be ſmitten? Paul an Innocent. Fowle iniuſtice. Queſtionleſſe if Paul had offred ſuch meaſure but to Ananias his dog, to hauehave ſmitten him for nothing, but out of meere ſpight, Ananias would hauehave iudged him a dogged fellow. And will Ananias vſe an innocent perſon as he would be loth a man ſhould vſe his dog.
3. Where muſt this blow be giuen? In open Court, where they were all Convened to do… iuſtice. Still the worſe. If he had commanded him to hauehave been ſmitten in his private parlour, it had bin vniuſtifiable, but to ſmite him in open Court, and to doe iniuſtice in the place of Iuſtice, this is deepe iniuſtice. The place he ſate in, the gravity of his perſon, Gods high Prieſt, the ſolemnitie of the adminiſtration of iuſtice, all theſe might hauehave manacled his hands, and hauehave a little tempered, and bridled his ſpirit. A fowle indignitie for the Iudge of Iſrael to be ſmitten on the cheek. Mic. 5. 1. As fowle an iniquitie for a Iudge of Iſrael to ſmite on the mouth wrongfully, & in an open Court of Iuſtice. What an indecent thing for a Iudge to goe to cuffes on the Bench? What an intemperate, and a vindictiue ſpirit argues it? But what is the Indecency to the Iniuſtice? And what iniuſtice to that which is done vponupon the Bench? Of all wormwood that is the moſt bitter, into which iuſtice is turned.
4. For what is the blow giuen? For a good Conſcience. What? And hath Gods high Prieſt no more Conſcience then ſo? His place teaches him to be a protector, defender, and an incourager of good conſcience. His whole office is matter of Conſcience, and will he that ſhould teach, maintaine, and encourage good Conſcience, will hee ſmite men for good conſcience. What is this but Iſa. 58. 4. To ſmite with the fiſt of wickedneſſe?
5. When is the blow giuen? When he is beginning to plead his owne innocency, and to ſpeake in his owne defence. More Iniuſtice yet. Did not Nicodemus ſpeake reaſon. Ioh. 7. 51. Doth our law iudge any man before it heare him. Nay, if Ananias hauehave no regard to Gods law, as it ſeemes he hath but a little, that will ſmite a man for good Conſcience, yet what will he ſay to Caeſars law? Act. 18. 25. Is it lawfull for you to ſcourge, and ſo to ſmite, a man that is a Roman and vncondemned, and vnheard? To iudge & condemne a man vnheard, is deepe Iniuſtice, but farre deeper to puniſh, and execute him. Will he hang a man, and then try him? Loe here indeed a right vnrighteous Iudge, that feares neither God, nor man, that regards neither Gods law, nor Caeſars.
To hauehave done by Paul as Gallio did. Act. 18. 14. 16. When Paul was about to open his mouth, to driue him & the reſt from the iudgement-ſeat, this had bin iniuſtice, but when Paul opens his mouth to ſpeake for himſelfe, for Ananias to ſtop his mouth, & to ſtop it with his fiſts, to ſtop his mouth, & ſmite him on the mouth both, when hee was to ſpeake in his owne defence, what greater depth of Iniuſtice can we imagine? An hundred to one but Ananias was one of the Sanhedrim, which at that time when the officers not having apprehended Chriſt, fell a curſing the people, Ioh. 7. 49. This people that knowes not the law is curſed. VponUpon which ſpeech Nicodemus ſeemes to meet kindly with them, V. 51. Doth our law iudge any man before it heare, & know what he doth. As if he had ſaid, Doe you glory in the knowledge of the law, & are they curſed that know not the law, what then are they that knowing the law goe directly againſt it? Are the people, Ananias, curſed that know not the law, what art thou thy ſelf then who knoweſt both Gods law and Caeſars, and yet through malice againſt Paul, ſinneſt againſt both? Vniuſt & malicious proceedings, God will not let them hauehave the honour ſo much as of the colour of formality, & legality in their courſes. But they ſhall ſo bee carried, that the madnes & malice of thē, may lie manifeſtly open to the view of al the world.
6. By what authority is the blow giuen? Ananias commanded them. Yea, but Mal. 2. 7. The Prieſts lips ſhould preſerue knowledge, & they ſhould ſeeke the law at his mouth. And ſhould they that ſhould ſeeke the law at his mouth, againſt all law at his command, ſmite men on the mouth? It was too much that Gallio did, and the holy Ghoſt leaues a deepe diſgrace vponupon him for it. Act. 18. 17. that he would ſuffer others to ſmite Softhenes, and not to care for it. It was too much that Ahab ſuffers Zidkiah to ſmite Micaiah, and to breake the Kings peace in the Kings preſence, he ſhould hauehave condemned him at leaſt to looſe his hand, for ſtriking before the King. But here is a worſe matter, he not onelyonly ſuffers it, but commands it to be done. Ananias commanded to ſmite. Vniuſtice ſuffred by authority is too much, but vniuſtice commanded by authoritie, that is farre worſe.
Vſe 1 It ſhewes the truth of Pauls phraſe.Non eſt crudelior in orbe terrarum ira, quā Ecoleſia ſanguinariae & hypocritarum: Nam in politica irâ eſt aliquid humani reliquū. Nullus tum immanis latro ad ſupplicium rapitur, quin aliquâ commiſeratione tanguntur homines: Sed cum falſa illa, et ſanguinarid eccleſia in filium verae eccleſiae inciderit, non ſatis ei eſt effudiſſe ſanguinem, etiam maledicit, execratur, de vouet, & in miſerū cadauer ſaeuit ita que ira falſa eccleſiae, & furor phaeriſaicus eſt furor planè diabolicus-Luther in Gen. cap. 4. Vſe 2. 2 Theſſ. 3. 2. Vnreaſonable men, or abſurd men. Malice againſt the truth, and the Goſpell, ſo hurries adverſaries, that it tranſports them beyond all bounds of common equity, common honeſtie, the gravity of their perſons, and places; ſo as neither law of God, nor law of man can reſtraine their violence, and impetuouſnes. No boundes can keepe a malicious ſpirit within compaſſe. It makes men forget common ciuilitie, and carries men beyond all Decorum, even that Decorum their place, and office calls for. Bonner cannot content himſelfe to iudge, and condemn Gods ſervāts to the fire, it ſatisfies him not to be their Iudge, but hee muſt be taking the Beadles, or the Hangmans office out of his hand to, & he muſt be whipping them with his owne hands; And malicious Story forgetting the grauity of his Doctourſhip, muſt be throwing Fagots at the faces of the Martyres, when bound to the Stake to bee burned. What is to be abſurde, and vnreaſonable, if this be not? Murtherers, and bloody cut-throates ſhall finde more legall and formall proceedings at their hands, then the maintainers of the Goſpell, and Gods truth ſhall doe at their tribunals. To bee ſure Barabba… ſhall find more favour, and leſſe hatred then Chriſt.
Iudge by this what may be lookt for, if euer the Romiſh Ananias ſhould get head amongſt vsus again. Ananias his ſpirit liues ſtil in that chaire of peſtilence. If ever therfore we ſhould come vnderunder his fingers, looke neither for law nor reaſon, honeſty, nor equity, look for nothing but the weight of his fiſts.
Thus hauehave wee ſeene enemies impetuouſneſſe in this point, and we may yet ſee it a little more in the next. Therefore further in the third place obſerue.
Doct. 3 Ananias commands to ſmite Paul. A falſe Prieſt to ſmite a true Apoſtle. Neuer do Gods faithfull ſervants ſuffer harder meaſure then from ſuch. Who ſmites Micaiah, but that counterfeit Enthuſiaſt Zidkiah? 1. Kin. 22. Well might he come in with his horns. They were emblematicall, and better ſigues of the malice of his heart, then of the truth of his Prophecy. There bee no ſuch horned beaſts that puſh ſo dangerouſly againſt Gods true Prophets, as Satans falſe Prophets are. Ier. 20. Ieremy is buffeted and ſtocked, and who is the deed-doer? Paſhur the Prieſt. See Ier. 26. 8. 11. 16. The Prophet findes more reaſon and faire dealing from the Princes, and the people, then frō the Prieſts and the Prophets. Theſe were fiercely bent againſt him, and nothing would quench the Wolues thirſt, but the Prophets blood. Pilate can finde no fault in Chriſt, yea ſeekes to deliver him, but the chiefe Prieſts and the Elders perſwaded the multitude that they ſhould aske Barabbas, and deſtroy Ieſus. Mat. 27 20. How woefull a caſe was it, that more Iuftice and equity ſhould bee in an heathen Pilate, then in the Prieſts? How wel would it hauehave become them to hauehave ſticked, and ſtoode for Chriſt, if Pilate had ſought his life, rather then that an heathen ſhould pleade for him, whileſt thoſe that glory that they are the Prieſts of God, ſhould ſeeke the murther of Gods Son. What a pittifull caſe that Pilate ſhould be the Iew, and the Prieſts the Heathens? Therefore is Pauls Preface in his anſwer before Agrippa worth the noting. Act. 26. 2. I thinke my ſelfe happy King Agrippa, becauſe I ſhall anſwer for my ſelfe this day before thee, Why, what was Agrippa? Hee was an Heathen man. Why then ſhould hee thinke himſelfe happy to anſwer before him? Had he not been happier if he might hauehave anſwered the matter before the high Prieſt? No; for Agrippa giues him liberty to ſpeake for himſelfe, Act. 26. 1. Then ſaid Agrippa to Paul, Thou art permitted to ſpeake for thy ſelfe. But Ananias the high Prieſt layes him on the mouth when hauing leaue he begins to ſpeake for himſelfe. There is more hope of reaſon, and faire proceeding from heathen Agrippa, then from Ananias. There be no ſuch virulent, and violent enemies againſt Gods truth and ſervants, as are degenerate, & counterfeit friends, and amongſt thoſe ſtil they be the bittereſt, whom it behooued to bee the beſt. The bittereſt enemies againſt the Church, are thoſe within her owne bowells.
Doct. 4 Ananias was an vſurper of the office of the Prieſthood, and marke how he carries himſelfe in the place. Hee commands Paul to bee ſmitten. Vſurpers commonly are ſmiters, and vſurpation is vſually attended with violence. Such as the entrance, ſuch the adminiſtration. We ſee it true in Abimelech, and Athaliah. That as it is ſaid of Pope Bonif. the eight, that he entred like a fox, raigned Integritas praeſidentium eſt ſalus ſubditorum, principatus autē quē ambitus occupavit, etiamſi moribus, atque actibus non offendit ipſius tamen initii ſui eſt pernitioſus exemplo: & difficile eſt vt bono peraguntur exitu quaemalo ſunt inducta principio ex Decret. Doct. 5.like a lyon, &c. So was it with Ananias, he had a foxes entrance, hee came not to the Prieſthood by an hereditary ſucceſſion, but as the faſhion then was, by ſimony, bribery, and flattery, and now ſee how he raigns like a Lion, and commands Paul to bee ſmitten on the mouth. An ill entrance into any place of office in Church, or Commonwealth, cannot promiſe any good in the adminiſtration thereof.
See what woefull times here were, what bitterneſſe, what madneſſe againſt a good Conſcience. And theſe were the times that did a little fore-run the fatall and fearefull ruine and deſolation of Ieruſalem, and the Nation of the Iewes. Ananias his deadly hatred of goodneſſe, and a good Conſcience was a bud of the fig-tree that the particular iudgement of Ieruſalem was euen at the doores. When the rod is bloſsomed, and pride hath budded, and violence, ſpecially againſt good conſcience is riſen vp into a rod of wickednes, then may it truly be ſaid, Behold the day, behold it is come, The time is come, the day drawes neere. Ezech. 7. 10. 11. 12. By Bede deſcribing the ancient deſtruction of this kingdomeOdium in veritatis profeſſoris tanquam ſubverſores omnia tela & odium in hos. Bed. hiſt gent. Angl. l. 1. c. 14. of Brittaine, this is made a forerunner thereof, The hatred of the profeſſors of the truth as of ſubuerters, all the the ſpite and hate was againſt them. Our Saviour tels his Diſciples, Luk. 21. 11. of fearfull ſights and great ſigns that ſhould be from heauen, before the deſtruction of Ieruſalem: And ſo there was a fearfull comet, and many other prodigious things before the ſame. Nowe if the Iewes had had hearts to hauehave conſidered it, this cordiall malignity on eueryevery hand againſt good Conſcience was as ſad a Prognoſticator of their approaching ruine, as any blazing ſtar, or terrible ſight whatſoeuer. It is an ill preſage of a Nation going downe, when once good Conſcience is fiſted down.